Behind the Line: Mismo Bags

You’ve got a Filson, you’ve got a Porter, hell, you might even have a Lotuff & Clegg, but do you have a Mismo? Probably not. And if you’re in the market for a bag this holiday season, you might want to consider the Danish brand that consistently comes with premium construction, cool color-stories and super clean styling. We recently chatted with co-founder Adam Alexander Bach about the sharpest bag company you’ve never heard of, until now.

GQ: With the whole artisan movement and a return to kind of old school practices, there’s been such an influx of amazing mens bags coming to market - what’s your philosophy on what makes a stand apart product in this category?

Adam Alexander Bach: We have a rather architectural approach to the way we design. It’s mainly about symmetry, aesthetics and what’s pleasing to the eye. It’s about playing with dimensions, angles and shapes until it just looks right. Of course, we also like to keep it simple. We put a lot of effort into developing and sourcing the best possible materials, be it vegetable tanned leather or a special, hard-woven, water-repellent canvas. Working with such great materials gets you halfway and from there it’s basically a matter of trying not to force a design onto the materials, but trying to let the materials speak their own language.

We know that people these days are willing to spend a little extra for a quality bag that in terms of design and quality will take them safely through several seasons. We try really hard to deliver on that. Especially because all the hard work in developing great materials can so easily be wasted if the construction is not state-of-the-art, as well. A bag made with a fine quality leather is basically a waste of money if the stitching breaks within weeks. We’ve emphasised this over and over again in dealing with our manufacturers, and we’ve now reached a standard in production that we’re incredibly proud of. Creating a great looking design is the easy part, it’s getting the bags produced using the right materials, and ensuring a high standard of production that presents the real challenge.

GQ: Give us a brief history of Mismo, a brief history, and what you guys see as cornerstones of the brand...

Bach: Mismo was founded in 2006 by my partner Rikke Overgaard and myself. We graduated from business school together in 2003. Back then the original idea was to create a more stylish alternative to the black, unisex nylon cases that were dominating the market for laptop protection at that time. With Rikke’s background in men’s tailoring, and with me having a little insight into sales and marketing, it just clicked.

We started with our laptop bags, and quickly grew into more lifestyle-focused products like small credit card holders and larger travel bags. We’ve always been very detail oriented, be it with product or in strategy. "Uncompromising" is how we’d best describe our approach. When you simplify things, it’s much easier to maintain your focus, to optimize and to improve on the few activities you have going. For us, our products have been the focus of attention all along the way. If your products can’t stand the test of time in today’s market, you’re done.

GQ: What’s your favorite piece from the line and why?

Bach: I have a few personal favorites:

The M/S Shopper has become sort of a signature piece for us. We introduced it as one of the first styles in our canvas collection. It represents some of the core elements of Mismo because it’s simple and the canvas adds a nice tactile element. It’s an everyday type of bag that compliments anyone who’s looking to carry a functional bag that has some style.

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I’m also proud of how the M/S Backpack turned out. I think it’s a super stylish backpack that just looks great. Design-wise it was a challenge as neither of us were backpack guys, so to speak. We tried to unite sophistication with an urban functionality in a very well-balanced way.

Lastly, I love the Wessel, one of our full-grain leather bags. This is a special one, because we drew inspiration from old wooden sailboats and found a way to represent that in a bag. It’s also a fine example of the high level of craftsmanship we’ve reached in production. Honestly, it’s not an easy bag to construct, but I think it looks elegant and unique.

GQ: If a dude wants to make a subtle statement with a colored bag (you guys have some great ones) what color should he opt for?

Bach: Classic colors (blues, greens) work well with many shades of leather and are fairly easy to pair with your wardrobe. It has always been our objective to create bags that complimented a person’s style rather than dictating it. For our more adventurous colours, we get a lot of our influence from what we see on the streets/in street wear: spicing up the collection with red, lead, or curry. You can see these colors our Canvas collection, where we always have 4-5 different colour combinations, and color-wise we try to make sure there is something cool to choose each season.

GQ: Since it’s the holidays, what’s something you bought recently as a gift for a loved one?

Bach: Last week I bought yet another soccer ball: a small, old-school leather one for my two year old son. He loves soccer, he just hasn’t realized it yet....

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